Captain in Training

It’s winter

And I’m growing potatoes

I don’t have any resolutions but I’ve been telling myself since 2019 that my story will be done by the end of 2020. That’s not a promise, just me trying to kick myself in the ass hoping that I’ll make some god damn progress.

I guess a resolution I will start for my blog is updating it... ha...

-Imperial Trice’s Symbol Animal - the Awlet

The awlet is the symbol animal for the group of islands inhabited by the sailor traders known as Imperial Trice.  The awlet serve as companions to the sailors, the people using the large aquatic birds to dive deep underwater in the country’s many reefs.  Naturally, awlets use their talons to catch fish underwater, but they often find it easier to lead the sailors with spears to the prey, the awlet always getting an even share of the speared catch.

I actually updated pretty recently, but I’ve made considerable progress, so I figured I’d share it with you guys!  Last time, 9 days ago, I updated and was at:

Which I was pretty excited about anyway.  

I got to some of my favorite scenes, so writing has been pretty easy.  Now I’m at:

8,308 words in 9 days.  I’m extremely excited about that.

Hey guys, I just want to start this off by saying I’m not making money from this, this is a free review, and I think every author on this planet, whether you plan on self publishing or going through a publishing company should read this.

I accidentally bought the first edition on Amazon, but I hear Helen Sedwick has published a few more editions on the subject.

First Edition on Amazon Here.

Second Edition on Amazon Here.

(Again these are NOT affiliate links)

I’m going to keep this short and sweet for you guys.

Self-Publisher’s Legal Handbook goes into detail on the legal process of publishing a book.  It’s a lot to take in at first, so keep a notepad near you while reading it!  You will learn the basics, how to get your own ISBN number, how to make your novel appear more professional, and how to “start a publishing company” for your self publishing adventures.

If you’re overwhelmed by legality of what font you can use, what pictures you can edit from the internet, and even hiring people to create book covers for you, you will benefit from reading this book.

She also goes into detail on what exactly the words in a couple of the big self publishing companies’ contracts mean (i.e Amazon).  She reviews the terms to look for in your contract, and the terms to steer away from, too.

The book is an extremely helpful tool for any author, but if you plan on self publishing, I highly recommend you get it!

And just a note before I leave this review: She stresses in the book that it is not set in stone legal advice, it’s just here to help you understand the process better.  You should always be in contact with an attorney who knows your area’s laws if you need definitive advice.  

I know I’ve been MIA for about four months now, and I have no idea what I’ve really been doing.  I actually got a substantial amount of people interested in my novel on another social platform... completely on accident.  

Anyway, last time four months ago when I updated my word count here we were at:

Which I was not too proud of.

But we are getting there!  As of today we are at:

12,296 words sure is something but then again that’s only 3k words a month, but oh boy let me tell you, over half of this was written in the past week.

The story is about to its halfway mark, which in a perfect world I’d be halfway done word-wise but I have some long “arcs” planned.  November-December 2020 feels promising to me.

The last update started with a 4 which is...  Bad.  A lot of misfortunes have taken place the last three months.  But here I am.  Did some writing.

Anyway, last time we were at 42,025 words.  While I have been relatively dead on this website, I have not been dead with my writing!

What are we at now?

I just found a screenshot from when I was at 44k... How odd I guess I meant to update this then...  Oh well.

5,732 words is pretty bad for 3 months, but to be fair... this was all done in a week.

GUYS!!  I did it!  I have reached 40k words!  Why was that a big goal of mine?  I have absolutely no clue, as I am expecting this story to reach beyond 200k.  Anyhow, last time, like four days ago or something, I was at 39,037 words and now I am at:

2988 words in like four days, I wish I could write that every four days.  I’d be done by the end of the year if that was the case...  It’s not a bad goal, honestly, but sometimes it’s not good to rush yourself.